Bulega still the Most as Bayliss bounces back

Ducati dominator extends his run to 19 consecutive wins with Czech clean sweep, while Oli Bayliss returned to form with a hard-earned WorldSSP podium

In Superpole the hybridised force of WorldSBK nature that is the 2026 version of the official Ducati V4-R and Nicolo Bulega combo went back into pole position for the fifth time in five goes this year. If you think all those figure ‘1’s at the top of the timesheets are monotonous in 2026, try writing them down each and every weekend for the whole five rounds/fifteen races so far.

Bulega’s determination and new all-time track best held off the potent Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) in Superpole, thanks to a 1’29.616.

Third was Iker Lecuona (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati), fourth Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) and fifth Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing Ducati).

It was the supposedly obsolete Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, ridden by the fast but sometimes unpredictable Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) that blew WorldSBK’s hive minds, however, in sixth place on the grid.

That was as nothing to the fact that Gerloff would go on to ride confidently to fourth place in the opening race. Even with some top riders out through injury, this was still remarkable given that the Kawasaki is the oldest basic design in the paddock, with the least extreme bore and stroke figures of all (except for the bimota KB998, which it shares and engine and electronics platform with).

The Kawasaki is the bike that Jonathan Rea left behind three years ago, so obviously there has been a re-birth or two after some very minor tweaks to the bike this year.

The first race in Czechia was another Ducati benefit for the podium positions, with Bulega taking his 17th win in succession and his 13th straight race win of 2026.

Lecuona looked like a potential winner when he passed Bulega with confidence,  but the championship leader was having some brake issue, with the handlebar lever coming back to touch his two outer fingers (which stay wrapped around the grip at all times) in the heaviest braking places.

In the last few laps Bulega convinced himself to simply stop worrying about it and he re-passed Lecuona, and put an instant gap into him that grew to 1.3 seconds at the end.

Not like other people these racer types, clearly.

Montella was a lonely but happy third, with Gerloff fourth and Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) the best KB998 rider in fifth place, hounded slightly across the line by Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven Ducati).

High Lap One drama but no final change in the top three finishing order were the alpha and omega of the Superpole Race, held on a dry but chilly Sunday morning.

Bulega made a mistake to run wide early on, but Sam Lowes fell altogether as he followed a similar line – by necessity – after some bumping and barging into the infamous T1/T2 chicane.

Bulega set a new lap record in the sprint race, on lap three, with a 1’29.920.

He won, of course – his 18th in a row now – from Lecuona and Montella.

Baldassarri was fourth, fifth was Surra and sixth? The still amazing Gerloff.

Race Two was the closest Bulega v Lecuona push of the weekend, with the Spanish rider just 0.594 behind Bulega who carried on his perfect race record of the year. His 19th consecutive race win is finally six more than the next closest former challenger. Until we get to Aragon, of course, where everybody still sees him as the triple winner.

It’s not just Bulega ‘showing off’ up top, his team-mate Lecuona has just finished posting 12 straight second place finishes, usually well behind the next fastest rider.

Baldassarri was just over a second from the easing up Montella, but even Montella was 15 seconds from the race win.

To say Ducati and in particular the official Ducati squad is dominant this year is a gross understatement, but against all that mono-Moto culture right at the top the impossible happened – again – in Race Two, when Gerloff moved up and down the order but finished in fifth place.

If everybody expected Bulega to win the title this year, few expected Gerloff and Kawasaki to kick almost everyone else’s butt in the last few races.

The ever combative Surra was behind gerloff in Race Two, in sixth with both bimotas, from A. Lowes and Bassani, in line astern behind him.

Remy was 17th in Superpole Qualifying, then scorer of a single point for 15th place in Race One. On Sunday he posted 12th and 14th scores.

WorldSBK is getting a bad reputation right now for all the Ducati Cup stuff right now. The bare stats make it hard to argue with that reality, but behind the top two, three, four and even the top five or six Ducati riders sometimes there is the remarkable fact lying right there in the pile of discarded results that everybody is going faster in 2026 than in 2025.

Lap times and race times are almost always quite a bit quicker this year, which makes most of those who look like they are going slow victims of both the new Ducati order and simple circumstance.

In the points, a perfect Bulega has 310, Lecuona 215 and Montella 121.

Remy Gardner
“It was a difficult Saturday and clearly not the result we were aiming for. We’re struggling more than expected at the moment, so we need to understand where we can improve. We made a small step forward between qualifying and Race One, which is positive. It was a better day overall on Sunday and we definitely made improvements. Unfortunately, starting so far back on the grid made recovery very difficult, and we weren’t able to fight further forward. Still, we can take confidence from the progress we made and continue building momentum for the next races.”

Fastest of the weekend
The almost ancient Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR and its sole 2026 rider, Garrett Gerloff, proved to be the best double act since Abbott and Costello on Friday at Most after they – impossibly – headed up the combined qualifying times. Fourth place in Race One also then felt absolutely other-worldly.

Save of the weekend
In a frantic last lap of the opening WorldSPB race David Salvador (ProDina Kawasaki) had not one but two big ‘moments’, which saw him heading straight into the database of ‘how-did-he-save-that?’ recoveries. He even got back into a podium position at the end.

2026 WORLDSBK CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 5

WorldSSP – Title Chase Hots Up Heavily

Bayliss was on song after a tough previous round at Balaton Park, going fourth in Superpole and then taking sixth on Race One. He ended up with a brilliant third place podium finish in Race Two, although as he himself stated, it happened after two other riders fell on the last lap.

Can Öncü (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) squeezed his way to the Superpole win, his second of the 2026 season.

Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) had been relegated to row two for riding slowly on the racing line, but in the race he came through the mass of Yamahas and occasional Ducati to win his and new Chinese WorldSSP force ZXMOTO’s fourth race of the 820RR’s rookie season. There would also be a fifth.

Oncu ended up 0.6 behind, with Albert Arenas (AS Racing Yamaha) third, just one place ahead of Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura).

Lucas Mahias (GMT94-YAMAHA) dropped off the final pace a little. Oli Bayliss (PTR Factory Triumph) was a strong sixth, even though he slipped back from the top five places

Race Two was a slice of championship psychodrama, as there was an early crash for Albert Arenas (AS Racing Yamaha) Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) touched him on a right hander.

Masia was given a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding but he crashed out on his own later.

Debise capitalised after a brilliant fight at times with Öncü as WorldSSP provided another cosmopolitan and fully committed weekend.

Tom Booth-Amos (Triumph Factory Racing) could have been third but crashed right near the end, just like Mahias.

Bayliss won a late fight with Aldi Satya Mahendra (AS Racing Yamaha) and Matteo Ferrari (WRP Racing Ducati) to take third, after it looked like he was on for a fifth place.

In the championship the leading places compressed a tad with Arenas on 166 points, new second place rider Debise has 147 and Masia is third with 130.

Oli Bayliss
“A pretty good weekend overall here at Most. We were fast from the get-go. We had a few little niggly issues that affected us from about halfway through race one onwards, mainly a lack of front grip. The PTR Triumph Racing team and I made a few changes to the bike for race two and it meant I didn’t have to push quite as hard in the early laps, which helped save a bit more tyre for the end of the race. Still, we had a bit of a drop-off with two or three laps to go and I made a couple of small mistakes which lost me contact with the group. It’s a shame for Tom and Lucas that they both went down on the last lap, but it meant we moved from fifth to third and came away with a podium to finish the weekend. Overall, it’s definitely a positive weekend. We had strong speed throughout, so now we need to take the confidence from this weekend and use it to help us heading into Aragón. Thanks so much to the team for all their efforts. It’s nice to reward them and our sponsors with a podium finish. Let’s keep the ball rolling.”

2026 WORLDSSP CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 5

WorldSPB – New Power Age

David Salvador (ProDina Kawasaki) took pole on Friday in the SPB class, and would make a dramatic third place finish after the 12-lap Race One on Saturday.  The first race was won, for the first time for any Aprilia rider in any class since 2018, by Matteo Vannucci and his RS660 Factory machine.

He won a late battle of escape-from-the-pack alongside second place rider, Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing Suzuki).

Four Kawasakis – Salvador and Torres – and then MTM team-mates Loris Veneman and Xavi Artigas, filled the last places in the top six.

Race Two saw some top names fall, but it was a step up again to the top step for Portimao race winner, Torres, from the top Triumph Daytona of Bruno Ieraci (CM Triumph Factory Team).

Salvador was third again.

In the championship, Salvador leads Torres by 101 points to 91, with Buis third on 84 and Vannucci fourth with 79.

Taiyo Aksu
WorldSPB rider Taiyo took his Pata ADG Motorsport Yamaha to 27th in Superpole and then 20th in Race One. In the second 12-lap WorldSPB contest he finished 15th for his first point of the year. “I am really how this weekend ended, to be honest. I finished up P15 in the second race for our first ever World Championship point. I am pretty happy with that considering that I started something like 28th on the grid. I made up 14 positions, and was riding for a top 12. We need something in a few areas to be fighting for a top ten, but I think the potential is there. Overall considering that this is my first time in Most – now one of my favourite tracks – and not doing so many laps on Friday with a few issues, I am really happy how we managed to top off the weekend.”

Carter Thompson
Carter was judged to have been the source of the big Race One/lap one crash into T10, and thus was given a double long-lap penalty for Race Two. He ended his weekend with a ninth in Superpole, a DNF and then great recovery ride to fifth in Race Two. “Overall we are taking the positives from the weekend. Yamaha and BRCorse have been working very hard and it is really starting to show. Race One just wasn’t my race, getting caught up in an incident. Race Two, had a double long lap penalty to take but we fought hard and showed great pace, doing our fastest lap of the weekend, and showed great consistency to bring it home P5.”

2026 WORLDSPB CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS